Emotional Intelligence:

1. Emotional Intelligence: The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence, Emotion Control, Affective Communication and Gender in University Students

2. Although general intelligence (IQ) indicates a person’s overall intellectual functioning, it says little about the more specific intelligence aspects that comprise it (Mayer & Geher, 1996). • Psychologists have sought to divide general intelligence • into more specific areas. • Social • Motivational • Emotional • Emotional Intelligence is defined as “the ability to • monitor one’s own and others’ emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p. 189).

3. Emotional Intelligence & Gender Differences • Stereotypically, females are often described as: • -emotional, nurturant, submissive, communicative, sociable and passive. • Whereas men are described as more: • - rational, instrumental, aggressive, dominant and achievement-oriented. • Many people perceive significant differences between men’s and women’s personalities, and these perceptions influence their attitudes about and behaviors towards others, thereby influencing personality.

4. Emotion Control & Gender Differences • Emotion control is defined as the “tendency to inhibit • the expression of emotional responses” • (Roger & Bahman, 1989, p. 845). • Men are more verbally and physically aggressive than • females, perhaps because of an inability to control these negative feelings. • Females are generally more influenced by the emotions • of others, which may (Friedman & Schustack, 1999).

5. Affective Communication and Gender Differences • Women are better at non-verbal communication, more sensitive to • non-verbal cues, and more non-verbally expressive than men. • Women do better at interpreting the emotion displayed in photos and are better at expressing emotions so that they are interpretable by others. These findings suggest that women may be more attuned to both their own and other’s emotional states (Friedman & Shustack, 1999). • Women are better at communicating non-verbal and • verbal messages. • Women smile and gaze more than men.

6. Variables Quasi-independent variable: -Gender Dependent variables: -Emotional intelligence scores -Emotion control scores -Affective communication scores Self-report questionnaires: -EQ -ECQ 2 -ACT

7. Hypothesis • There are significant gender differences concerning emotional intelligence, emotion control and affective communication. • Method • 70 participants, 35 male and 35 female. • On and off-campus

8. Method • Consent form • 3 self-report Questionnaires: • Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (EQ) • Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ 2) • Affective Communication Test (ACT) • Personal Demographics • -sex, age, GPA • Debriefing Form

9. Results • Descriptive statistics, independent T-tests and correlations were conducted. • For emotional intelligence (VAREQ), females (M = 97.71, SD = 27.82) scored higher than males (M = 91.00, SD = 31.48), but results were insignificant (t (68) = -.946, p = .348). • For emotion control (VARECQ), females (M = 31.14, SD = 6.02) scored lower than males (M = 32.29, SD=6.91) but results were insignificant (t (68) = .738, p = .463). • For affective communication (VARACT), females(M = 70.49, SD = 19.34) scored lower than males (M = 77.83, SD = 13.98) but were also insignificant (t(61.93) = 1.820, p = .074).

10. Results

11. Graph: EQ A person with emotional intelligence can be thought of as having attained at least a limited form of positive mental health. These individuals are aware of their own and others feelings. They are open to positive and negative aspects of internal experience, are able to label them, and when appropriate, communicate them. (Salovey & Mayer, 1989-90).

12. Graphs: ECQ 2 • According to Goleman (1996), emotional self-control and the delay of gratification underlie all human accomplishment. • Regulation of emotion also includes the ability to alter the affective reactions of others.

13. Graph: ACT • Being able to non-verbally express certain emotions in different situations is an important indicator of emotional intelligence. • Both verbal and non-verbal reports are essential in demonstrating emotional intelligence.

14. Results • No significant difference between males and females in emotional intelligence, emotion control and affective communication. • By correlating the 3 questionnaire scores, there was a significant inverse relationship found between ACT and ECQ scores among the males (-.542). • Goleman (1994) asked the question “Is it true that women can act more on emotional impulse, read another’s deepest feelings or handle relationships more smoothly than men? According to our findings, the answer is no. • Gender differences are less apparent now than they were in the past.

15. Suggested Improvements • More diverse population • Larger sample size • ECQ 2 - More standardized scoring procedure could have been used, may have affected the significance levels of our results • Carryover effects • -subject attrition, boredom, fatigue • Volunteer bias • Certain questions on the tests didn’t pertain to the operational definitions. E.g., ACT questions focused more on extroversion and sociability rather than emotional communication, even though those are areas concerned with emotional intelligence

16. Future Research • May provide a more in depth view on men and women and the way they interact in their daily lives. • May help to better understand social interactions and cultural differences. • Certain occupations may require a dependency on emotional intelligence: • -psychotherapy (empathy for patients) • -social work (concern for others) • -teaching (regulation of emotion in self and others) • -business careers (good communication skills) • More specifically, emotion control plays an important role in determining the physiological effects of stress • -experimental stress management programs • -behaviour in detention centres